Ideas

What Ideas is for

Open Ideas from the footer tabs, or press Ctrl+1.

An idea is a titled note with rich text and tags. Use ideas for premises, what-ifs, research questions, half-scenes and anything you’re not ready to commit to. Ideas don’t add to your manuscript word count.

The project library in Ideas shows two lists: BOARDS and IDEAS. Choose an idea there or in the grid to open it.

Capture an idea

1. Type a title in the Capture an idea… field at the top.
2. Choose Add.

The new idea opens straight away, ready for its text. Titles can be up to 240 characters.

Find an idea

Ideas appear as a grid of cards showing the title, the start of the text and the tags. An idea with no text yet says “An idea waiting to be explored.”

Type in Search idea titles, text or tags to narrow the grid. The count beside it shows how many ideas match. Ideas keep the order they were created in; there is no separate sort or status.

Edit and format an idea

1. Choose an idea to open it. ← All ideas takes you back to the grid.
2. Change the Idea name or the text.
3. To format, select some text first, then use the Selected text bar: B, I and U for bold, italic and underline, Clear to remove formatting, and Paragraph style… for Body, Heading 1, Heading 2 or Heading 3. Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I and Ctrl+U work too.
4. Choose Save idea, or Discard changes to go back.

Spelling is checked as you type. Right-click selected text to add it to World, add a word to the project dictionary, or read the passage aloud (read aloud is available on Windows).

Tag an idea

Open Idea details and type tags in Tags, separated by commas, then save the idea. An idea can have up to 64 tags. Tags show on the card and are searched by the search field and by collections.

Develop an idea

When an idea is ready, develop it into something more definite. The idea itself stays in Ideas, and the new item keeps its text, emphasis, headings and tags.

1. Right-click the idea’s card, or open the idea and expand Develop idea.
2. Choose one of:
   • Develop into a scene… — a new scene in a book or chapter you choose. It joins the manuscript at the end of that book or chapter.
   • Develop into a plot beat… — a new card on a plot you choose. It’s a planning card and adds no manuscript text.
   • Develop into a World entry… — a new Wiki page. Choose a Template (or Blank entry with an Entry type). The page starts as Provisional canon and keeps the full idea as its source.
   • Send to board… — a new note on a board, which you can then move and colour freely.
3. Check the Title and choose the destination.
4. Choose Create scene, Create beat, Create World entry or Create board note.

The new item opens in its workspace. If there’s nowhere to put it yet, the dialog tells you what to make first: a book or chapter for a scene, or a plot for a beat.

Save first. If the idea has unsaved changes, StoryShape asks you to save or discard them before developing it.

Pin an idea beside your draft

Right-click an idea and choose Pin as writing reference. It appears in the References pane in Write, so you can read it while you draft. See References.

Add a passage to World

Select text in an idea and choose Add selection to World… (or Add to World… to send the whole idea). Create a new World entry or add to an existing one. The passage is kept as a source on the entry, linked back to this idea. See Add to World.

Delete an idea

Right-click the idea’s card or its row in the library and choose Move to Trash. You can restore it from Trash at the bottom of the library.